Floor machine



Jan. 15, 1924.-

A. J. HITCH FLOOR MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 23 1922 Jan. 15

A. J. HITCH FLOOR MACHINE :F'iled Oct. 23

1.922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented J an. 15, 1924.

UNITED STATES ALBERT J. HITCH, OF ST. THOMAS, ONTARIO, CANADA.

moon, MACHINE.

Application filed October 23, 1922. Serial No. 596,241.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT J. HIToH, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at St. Thomas, in the county of Elgin, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floor Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawings. This invention relates to a fioor machine and has special reference to a manually guided machine of the multi-duty type embodying a motor driven belt adapted to contact with a bare or covered floor. With the 13 belt made of fabric the machine may be used for wiping, scrubbing, oiling, waxing or polishing a floor or-a cover on the floor. With the endless belt made of an abrasive material the machine maybe used for sand-. ing, smoothing or removing high spots or irregularities from a floor. In order that the machine may be used for scrubbing or oiling a surface there is a reservoir adapted to contain liquid detergents and oils, and the machine also includes devices which will facilitate the use of the machine for the purposes enumerated above.

The construction entering into the machine will be hereinafter set forth and reference will now be had to the drawings, wherein 1 Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine with the gear housing and handle of the.

machine broken away;

# Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the machine;

Fi 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line TII-III of Fig. 2;

line

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on the line VV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view of a portion of the machine taken on the line VI-VI of Fig. 1, and

Fig.7 is a perspective view of a detached handle ,of the machine.

The machine is in the form of an oblong casing l'iaving a bottom wall 1, side walls 2 and 3 of greater length than the bottom wall 1"so as to provide a bottom opening 4; an inner end wall 5, and top cover plates 6, 7 and 8. The side walls 2 and 3 have the upper edges thereof, at the ends of said walls, inclined or beveled and provided with bifur- --IV of Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on the V cated lugs 9. The cover plates 6 and 8 are seated on the inclined edges of the side walls 2 and 3 and said cover plates are provided with pivoted bolts 10 equipped with clamp-' ing nuts 11, said bolts fitting in the bifurcated lugs 9 so that the clamping nuts 11 may engage under said lugs and clamp the cover plates 6 and 8 on the casing. The cover plate 7 is held on the walls 2 and 3 similar to the cover plates 6 and 8.

Mounted in the side walls 2 and 3, intermediate the ends thereof and in close proximity to the bottom wall 1, are stub axles 12 for rotatable floor engaging wheels 13 adapted to support the central part of the machine casing above the floor 1 1.

The end wall 5 is provided with a rearwardly extending bracket 15 and adjustable in this bracket is the stem .16 of a conventional form of caster 17 which engages a fioor 14. and cooperates with the wheels 13 in su porting the machine for movement over t e floor.

In the casing are partitions 18 and 19 dividing the cas1ng into an inner motor compartment 20, an intermediate reservoir com partment 21, and an outer belt compartment 22.. The partition 18 is high enough to isolate the IHOtOF'CODIPEtItIIIODt 20 relative to the compartment 21 which is used as a reservoir or tank and is adapted to contain any liquid or. material that is to be applied to the floor 14' or used for cleaning said floor.

Suitably mounted in the motor compartment 20 is a conventional form of electric motor 23 adapted to be supplied with eleotrical energy from an electric lighting system orsuitable source of electrical energy by a leading-in conductor 24 extending through an insulator 25 carried by the cover plate 6. The electric motor 23 has its armature shaft 26 extending through an opening 27 provided therefor in the side wall 2 and on the armature shaft 26 is a small gear wheel 28 meshing with a large gear wheel 29 rotatably supported by a stub shaft 30 suitably attached to the side wall 2. Thelarge gear Wheel 29 meshes with a small gear wheel 31 mounted on a spindle 32 detachably mounted in the end of a drive roll within the reservoir compartment 21 of the machine casing. The drive roll 33 has another spindle 34 and the spindles 32 and 34 are journaled in bearings 35 arranged in cages 36 detachablysupported within offset housings 37 of the walls 2 and 3.

40 in the cages 36., Engaging the bearings 40 are coiled compression springs 41 adapted ,to have the tension thereof regulated by ad-.

justable screws 42 carried by the cover plate 7, said cover plate closing the upper open ends of the housings 37 Hingedly connected to the side wall 2 is a gear housing or guard 43 which encloses the train of gears betwen the electric motor 23 and the driven roll 33.

The drive and driven rolls 33 and 38 are located in the inner end of the I'GSGI'VOII" compartment 21 adjacent the bottom thereof, and in the upper part of said reservoir compartment, contiguous to the partition19, are a series of superposed Wringer rolls 44 having spindles thereof journaled in bearings 45 arranged in cages 46 detachably mounted in offset housings 47 of the walls 2 and 3. The wringer walls 44 are retained inclose proximity to each other by the expansive force of springs 48 in the upper ends of the cages 46, said springs being regulated as to tension by screws 49. carried by the cover plate 7.

The side walls 2 and 3 of the machine casing are provided with angularly disposed slots 50 and extending through said slots are screws 51 of a bail or belt tightening device 52. The screws 51 are equipped with nuts 53 that may be tightened against the walls 2 and 3 to hold the bail 52 in an adjusted position, and rotatably supported by said bail isia roll 54 protruding from the bottomcopening 4 of the machine casing. This roll and the rolls 33, 38 and 44 are pref erably made of wood cylindrical bodies covered with rubber or other yieldable friction material.

Trained about the rolls 33 and 54 and extending between the wringer rolls 44 is an -endless belt 55 which may be made of any suitable fabric or abrasive material. This belt is driven from the electric motor 23 and when the inner end of the machine casing is raised the belt 55 is adapted to contact with the floor '14 or a carpet or cover on the floor. The pressure brought to bear by the belt on the fiooror carpet depends on the angularity of the machine casing relative to the floor or, carpet, and in some instances theadjustable caster 17 can be set to permit of the machine being moved on three wheels with the roll 54 a prescribed distance above a floor or carpet, particularly the latter, to prevent too 7 great a pressure of the roll on the carpet.

' The cover plate 7 has a filling opening 56- normally closed by a plug or cap 57 which a for sanding the floor.

ae soe .ing the belt 55 can be removed, cleaned or another belt substituted therefor.

Connected to the side walls 2 and 3 of the machine casing, at the inner end thereof,

by screws 60 or other pivotal means, is a bail 61 of a handle 62 by which the machine may be shiftedback and forth over a floor.

The leading-in conductor 24 of the electric motor 23 is wound on a holder 63 of the handle 62 and on said handle is a conventional form of electric switch 64 adapted to control the operation of the electric motor 23 when the conductor 24 is connected to, a suitable source of electrical energy.

With a liquidv detergent in the reservoir 21 the belt 55 can be saturated to a desired extent, depending on the tension of the wringer rollers 44, and with said belt engaging a carpet or other floor cover such carpet or floor can be scrubbed, washed 'or dust removed therefrom. It is obvious that oil or other material may be-applied to a floor; that a belt may be installed for floor polishing purposes, or an abrasive belt provided If possible, I do not care to limit my machine'to any specific use, and while in the drawings there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that the structural elements are susceptible to such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is A floor machine of the charact ALBERT' J. Hi'roH.

Witnesses:

LEWIS E. 'FLANDERB, KARL H. BUTLER.

signature 

